Perhaps there is only one cardinal sin: impatience. Because of impatience we were driven out of Paradise, because of impatience we cannot return.
W. H. AudenWe would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.
W. H. AudenI'll love you till the ocean Is folded and hung up to dry And the seven stars go squawking Like geese about the sky.
W. H. AudenLooking up at the stars, I know quite well That, for all they care, I can go to hell, But on earth indifference is the least We have to dread from man or beast. How should we like it were stars to burn With a passion for us we could not return? If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me. Admirer as I think I am Of stars that do not give a damn, I cannot, now I see them, say I missed one terribly all day. Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky And feel its total dark sublime, Though this might take me a little time.
W. H. Auden